Posted on 09/04/2007 5:04:10 PM PDT by Doohickey
A sharp-eyed user of Microsoft's Virtual Earth has found images of classified US Navy technology.
The image shows an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine being pulled out of the water at the Trident Submarine Base in Bangor, Maine and displays its propeller in full view.
Submarine propellers are highly classified and are usually hidden when submarines go into dry dock.
Dan Twohig, a deck officer on the Washington state ferry service, found the image when he was searching for a new house. He also writes a blog about shipping called Monster Maritime, on which he broke the news of the discovery.
"The prop photos were not taken from a satellite but by an airplane on a mapping run of the area," he wrote.
"I am certain that I am not the first person to see this photo, but I was just the first person to point it out and say: 'Whoa, I don't think that the military is going to be happy with this.'
"Satellites are one thing, but frankly, I am surprised that the air space over sensitive bases like Bangor is not better controlled."
Details of submarine propellers are highly secret, since they are the primary noise producing part of the submarine during cruising. Modern designs are built to reduce cavitation, the process by which bubbles form as the blades turn underwater.
A similar case occurred early this year when Google Earth picked up the first public pictures of a Chinese ballistic missile submarine.
On the bright side China probably had detailed blue-prints back in the 90s.
Goody—liberals selling us out again.
Thanks in part to Toshiba, which is why my husband states we will NEVER own anything with a Toshiba nameplate.
First the Japanese....now Microsoft....
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Of course, That plane should have NEVER been allowed in the airspace while the screw was exposed.
Toshiba now owns ... the nuclear reactor division of what was formerly Westinghouse.
Sheeeit, they were probably MADE in China.
Good for him.
And I thought my post was good. Ged ouda here... LOL
The answer here is for the military to better secure their secrets and their airspace, not to condemn Microsoft for providing good coverage in their maps and images.
LOL... I can picture a bunch of terorists running around Maine looking for our subs.
Maybe the Navy exposed a bogus screw for the ChiComs and Russians to waste some resources on.
And some silly people think the Navy should cover those props so they can't be photographed.
I agree. I don’t expect Microsoft, Google, MapQuest or anyone else to staff defense specialists to vet every aerial photo for classified information.
Dammit - no wonder I never got a response - I kept sending all my resumes to the Navy Shipyard in Maine!
First, that would have to be Bangor, Washington. Secondly, I don't think a mapping aircraft, or any other type of civilian aircraft was allowed to fly over an SSBN base.
Third, the Russians and Chinese have satellites that have revisit times much shorter than the time it takes to dry-dock a submarine.
Amen.
Same goes for me.
Send one to VnuNet, they need some proofreaders.
It's was better than that. It was a Casey operation. The sw controllers created a huge explosion, knocking out a key hard-currency source.
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